In his book Journey to Ixtlan, Castaneda talks about the concept of stopping the world.
It involves leaving behind an old version of reality for a new one, the old one being collective, the new one extraordinary and magical.
Let’s remember that don Juan believed that knowledge was gained through direct experience, not through gathering facts intellectually. Carlos introduced himself to don Juan as someone very knowledgeable about peyote. He said he was interested to learn what don Juan knew. He also assumed that his graduate school education would enable him to understand better than this old man whatever they discussed. The brief encounter ended quite strangely, though-- don Juan
unsettled Carlos with an arresting stare.
Don Juan's shining eyes looked straight through Carlos, as if to say he knew better than Carlos what was at stake in the study of these plants.
On the way to see, the warrior must first learn to stop the world. This is the first gate, the first encounter with the guardian of the threshold. One day, in the life of the Spirit warrior, the world stops. Then, he can discover the infinite, this immensity out there.
During Carlos' apprenticeship, don Juan frequently paid attention to the Nagual for omens, or agreements--the timely rattling of a bush, the unexpected roar of a jet, or the sudden appearance of a crow.
Stopping the world can also be linked to the passage from the first attention to the second attention or the moment we enter perception.
Then, we reach the core of sorcery: the move of the assemblage point!*
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